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Letter: Thanks to Walmart for helping find lost purse

Posted on Mar 9, 2012 at 3:04 p.m.

On Friday, my daughter and I were shopping at Walmart and after we put away our groceries in our vehicle we put the cart in the return cart section, unkowingly leaving my purse in the cart. We headed uptown town to do some other shopping and on the way, I realized that I left my purse in the cart. We quickly headed back to Walmart in a panic and when we got there, my purse was gone. I franticly went to the customer service desk to see if the purse had been turned in, but to my dismay it had not. I was so sick to my stomach. I had everything in my purse.

The gal that was assisting me called security so they could review their parking lot surveillance cameras. She called Lee to the floor to assist with my concerns and they gathered the needed information.

While Lee went to check the surveillance cameras I was going to call home to let my husband know what happened and that is when I realized that my iPhone was in my purse also. That is when I remembered that my 14 year-old son had downloaded an app on his iPod called "Find my iPhone." I didn't know too much about the app, so I called and talked to my son and he said that he could track my iPhone and see where it was. I was still in panic mode, but felt a little better that he might be of some assistance to me. Sure enough, he tracked it and he said that it was in Walmart and he could see the phone moving around within the store. I quickly found an employee and she assisted me with the directions in the store because, by now, I couldn't tell up from down. My son had the phone on speaker so my husband was calmly talking to me the whole time. He told me that it looked like it was in the back of the store by the TV's, so I quickly headed back there and then my son spoke up in the background and said that he could activate an alarm on my iPhone. I told him to go for it and within seconds of him activating it, my husband said that it looked like my phone was out the back door of Walmart. I found an employee back by the camera department and asked her if there was a back door, and she kind of looked at me funny until I mentioned what was going on. When I was talking to her, I saw Lee on his phone and he was also by the camera department. He calmly walked up to me and I told him that my phone was being tracked within the store and he calmly said, "Yes. I know, we have them under surveillance and we know who they are."

Sure enough, a man and women walked to the back counter where you pick up photos and they turned in my purse. I was so relieved that I started to tear up. The couple walked away and Lee told me that the police were on the way. I looked through my purse and it did not appear that anything was missing.

My phone was in there and the couple had apparently turned it off. I am not sure if it was because I called my phone or if it was because of the alarm that my son had activated from his iPod, but something scared them into turning in the phone. Maybe they had a guilty conscious, I don't know.

Apparently they were walking around the store shopping with a scarf covering my purse in their cart. Little did they know that the whole time they were under surveillance cameras being watched, as well as being tracked by my son's iPod.

I am so greatful to Lee and everyone else at Walmart that assisted me in finding my purse. Thank goodness for surveillance cameras and the quick action that they took. My purse was back in my hands within 40 minutes, but to me it seemed like hours. I also want to thank my teenage son for downloading the "Find my iPhone app," everyone that has an iPhone needs to have this app. It was a lifesaver to my family and I. I cannot thank Lee and his crew at Walmart in Detroit Lakes, or my son, enough. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Sincerely, a very satisfied customer. -- Rondel Fehrenbach, Perham